Kings Appoint Kelly Cheeseman to COO

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Kings, the 2012 Stanley Cup Champions, have named Kelly Cheeseman as their new Chief Operating Officer (COO), Kings Governor Timothy J. Leiweke announced today. In addition to his duties with the Kings, Cheeseman will also now serve as COO for AEG Sports.

Cheeseman most recently served as Senior Vice President of Ticket Sales and Service for the Kings and for AEG Sports. He replaces Chris McGowan, who was recently named President and Chief Executive Officer of the Portland Trail Blazers.

Cheeseman is in his 12th year with the Kings and AEG. In recent years he has played an integral role for the Kings business division as the club has enjoyed unprecedented success. Cheeseman helped lead the Kings Ticket Sales department to achieve records in many categories including number of sell outs in 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12. Since 2008 the Kings Season Ticket base grew 80 percent with record renewal rates and new customers in all years.

In his positions, Cheeseman directed all Ticket Sales, Customer Retention and Service, plus all Database Marketing and CRM initiatives, and Ticket Operations. He served as a member of the NHL Ticket Advisory Board and he is a Board Member for the Kings Care Foundation. He has served as a guest speaker on numerous NHL and industry panels in recent years, including Customer Retention, Database, New Business and Dynamic Pricing seminars.

“We are very happy for Kelly as he is an integrate part of the LA Kings organization. I have worked very closely with Kelly and it is tremendous and very well deserved that he gets these added responsibilities and he has earned them,” said Kings President, Business Operations Luc Robitaille.

Cheeseman’s day-to-day role for the Kings includes overseeing the various business departments of the Kings organization and he is responsible for creating the plan to maximize and generate club revenues. His responsibilities also include developing strategies to grow the Kings’ fan base and enhance the fan experience. Other areas of focus include management of the following departments: Ticket Sales and Service, Ticket Operations, CRM & Analytics, Marketing, Digital, Game Presentation, Communications and Broadcasting, Fan Development, Community Relations and Human Resources.

Named the Kings’ Vice President, Ticket Sales and Service in July of 2008, prior to his promotion Cheeseman served as Senior Director, Ticket Sales and Service from July 2005-July 2008. In that position he oversaw all Ticket Sales, Customer Retention and Service after being promoted from Director of Sales and Service. Those duties also saw Cheeseman responsible for selling Kings hockey as well as numerous other AEG Sports Events in Los Angeles (boxing, tennis, lacrosse, cycling, track and field).

A graduate of Northwood University in West Palm Beach, FL, Cheeseman earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing Management in 2000.

ABOUT AEG SPORTS:

In 2012, AEG Sports was launched.

A new division within AEG, AEG Sports formally organizes the operations of our company’s many sports properties under the leadership and strategy of one group.

AEG is a company with many world class assets and properties. From a sports standpoint, our list of sports properties is unrivaled in the sports industry with anchor teams in the NBA, NHL and MLS, annual championship-caliber teams in Europe, historic clubs rich in history and expectations, and world-class events that are viewed by millions of sports fans around the world.

AEG Sports officially consists of the following hockey teams: the Kings, the Manchester Monarchs, the Ontario Reign, the Hamburg Freezers, Eisbaren Berlin and Djurgarden IF; the following soccer teams: the (back-to-back MLS Cup Champion) LA Galaxy and Hammarby IF; and the following races: Amgen Tour of California and Bay to Breakers.